The use of ballistic fabrics to provide flexible body armor, e.g., a bullet resistant garment or vest, that is resistant to penetration by projectiles such as bullets, shrapnel, flak, or the like, or other weapons is known in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,891,996, 3,988,780, and 4,079,464. Moreover, it is known to provide different vests to meet different threats or weapons. Thus, a lighter weight vest will be provided to resist projectiles fired from weapons of lesser fire-power. By lighter weight is generally meant that the vest will comprise fewer layers of ballistic cloth. If it is desired to provide a vest capable of resisting penetration by a projectile from a higher powered weapon, additional layers of ballistic cloth will be used in the vest. In this way, vests capable of resisting penetration by projectiles from even the most highly powered weapons can be tailored to different weapons. But, when the ballistic capabilities of vests are improved in this manner it is at the cost of making the vests more bulky and unwieldy. Ballistic capabilities may be improved by providing a metal plate between layers of ballistic cloth or by closely stitching the cloth layers together. Here the trade off is a vest that is less flexible and more uncomfortable to wear.
It is clear that increasing the ballistic capability of a bullet resistant vest by making it more bulky or less flexible is not a satisfactory solution, particularly when, for example, in the case of police officers, the vest should be worn over protracted periods of time. If the vest is uncomfortable to wear for long periods there will be a tendency not to wear them continuously, but only at times of perceived danger. Obviously, this is a condition to be avoided since a user can never be certain of the moment of danger. The dangerous situation might arise spontaneously and unexpectedly, and the user ought to be prepared and protected at all times.